Need a bit of an explanation..Help?

ckay220
ckay220 Posts: 271 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Okay...So what's a good amount of sodium to intake throughout the day? Like what's a good amount (mg) on a low sodium diet? Because I'm not sure if I should just be worrying about my calories..like if I'm within my caloric intake for the day, is that the main goal? Also, okay.....so if my intake should be 1200 calories, but I earn an extra 400 through exercise, does that mean that now, I can eat more? I don't know if that was a stupid question or not...lol. But I guess I just get confused when it says I've earned __ calories, ya know? Hope I didn't confuse anyone! Just need a bit of clearing up..Thanks!

Replies

  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    I won't be much help on the sodium (I eat way more than the recommended 2500, most days), so I'll let someone else answer that.

    As far as calories go, though; yes. If your original target was (for argument's sake) 1200, and then you did 400 calories worth of exercise, you would want to eat closer to 1600 total calories in the day. Depending on which screen you're looking at in MFP, though, it may still show your target as 1200; instead of upping the target to 1600, it subtracts 400 from what you've eaten (giving you a "Net Calories" number). You still wind up eating 1600 total, but it causes confusion for some people.
  • ckay220
    ckay220 Posts: 271 Member
    Okay so..2500 is recommended..that at least helps a little! I've never looked at sodium before really...just calories. But thanks for the calories information..because I just thought to stay below 1200 for the day. But now I get it..I think...So if I eat 1200...and burn 400, my total calories would end up being 800...so I can eat 400 more calories because of that burn..I saw something somewhere that said if you burn more than you eat, you'll lose weight...So should I be burning 1300 calories a day to lose some pounds? Sorry for my heaping load of questions..lol. Thanks!
  • xarge
    xarge Posts: 484 Member
    The American Heart Association advises no more than 1500mg of daily sodium intake. There is no need to go much lower than that as your body still needs some sodium from your diet and if you're exercising or living on a hot climate, you'll already be losing some through perspiration. As long as you stay away from most condiments and prepackaged food, there is no need to worry about sodium intake.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    The trick isnt in avoiding sodium per se.
    Its about balancing it with the proper potassium.

    So if you have a high sodium meal then later have something high in potassium to balance out the energy.
    I'm fine with 2500mg a day and i'm lean so water retention shows up on me like a champ!

    Eat something to balance it out!
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    As far as eating more than you burn - that is such a confusing statement to so many people and it's just way too simple in my opinion. Here's the thing, just surviving burns calories - your body uses these calories for energy to do things like breath, circulate your blood, digest your food and brain function. If you go to Tools and calculate your BMR, this is the # of calories your body uses to do just these basic things. If you don't eat enough (at least 1200 NET) you risk harming your body by not giving it enough fuel to do these basic functions.

    Here's the way MFP works. When you set up your profile, you entered your basic info, your activity level and how much weight per week you want to lose. Based on that data, MFP gives you a calorie goal which will allow you to lose weight without exercising. Once you do exercise, you earn calories that you then should eat back (at least half, if not more) in order to keep your energy up and be healthy. Starving yourself is useless and usually backfires for many reasons.

    The great thing about this site is that once you get a feel for what you're doing and read about what other folks are doing, you can even customize your settings. I personally eat at my BMR of 1500 plus my exercise calories and this seems to work well for me. There are also folks who do a slightly different method called Eat More to Weigh Less - you can find them by searching the boards.
  • Ladyred911
    Ladyred911 Posts: 2 Member
    I have done the biggest loser program twice at my local rec center....GREAT program. I had trouble with my legs cramping up. My salt intake was low so I added a little more salt to my diet and things got straightened out. So if you are working out daily keep that in mind. I know I can eat the extra calories that I gain from working out but I don’t. My trainers recommended not to eat the extra calories as it kind of cancels out what you just worked off. Keep in your set calorie intake.
  • krisiepoo
    krisiepoo Posts: 710 Member
    Okay so..2500 is recommended..that at least helps a little! I've never looked at sodium before really...just calories. But thanks for the calories information..because I just thought to stay below 1200 for the day. But now I get it..I think...So if I eat 1200...and burn 400, my total calories would end up being 800...so I can eat 400 more calories because of that burn..I saw something somewhere that said if you burn more than you eat, you'll lose weight...So should I be burning 1300 calories a day to lose some pounds? Sorry for my heaping load of questions..lol. Thanks!

    Yes, to a point. You're not taking into account your BMR in this equation which is basically the fuel your body needs to survive.

    I think a very helpful website is http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ -- this will help you calculate your BMR and your TDEE (which factors in exercise and daily activity). I subtracted 20% from my TDEE and I am eating about 2000 calories a day now. I also don't log my exercises as my calories have exercise built in.

    ps, I'm losing weight much faster eating more... crazy
  • srhershey
    srhershey Posts: 181 Member
    I'm starting to eat them back since I pulled a report that shows my net calories during the past 30 days and it showed I eat less than 1000 calories. The way I figure it, is that my beginning calorie goal is 1200, but on the days of the week I work out I end up burning 600-800 calories per day, which mean I can eat most of them back, but I never used to eat them back until recently. If I didn't eat them back and still tried to stay around 1200, then the math would look like this:
    1200 calories
    -800 calories I've consumed prior to workout
    =400 calories remaining

    600 calories burned during workout
    200 net calorie difference between what I've consumed (800) and what I burned (600)

    If I only eat 400 calories after my workout and for the rest of the day, then I've only consumed a net of 600 calories (200 net cal difference + 400 calories consumed after workout) and will be 600 less than the 1200 cal goal.

    Hope this kind of makes sense. I used to stick to eating close to 1200 a day and didn't eat my calories back. Looking at the Net Calories Report opened my eyes to really see how little I was consuming (600-900 cal most of the week). It also made me realize how the calories system works on this site. Even though I'm usually not hungry after 4pm because I graze throughout the day, I still have to "force" myself to eat my calories back. I've only recently "understood" how this calorie system works, but it makes sense to me.
  • ilovemybuggy
    ilovemybuggy Posts: 1,584 Member
    You can change your settings in your food diary and choose to track sodium, too. It gives you your goal per calories. etc
  • ckay220
    ckay220 Posts: 271 Member
    I'm starting to eat them back since I pulled a report that shows my net calories during the past 30 days and it showed I eat less than 1000 calories. The way I figure it, is that my beginning calorie goal is 1200, but on the days of the week I work out I end up burning 600-800 calories per day, which mean I can eat most of them back, but I never used to eat them back until recently. If I didn't eat them back and still tried to stay around 1200, then the math would look like this:
    1200 calories
    -800 calories I've consumed prior to workout
    =400 calories remaining

    600 calories burned during workout
    200 net calorie difference between what I've consumed (800) and what I burned (600)

    If I only eat 400 calories after my workout and for the rest of the day, then I've only consumed a net of 600 calories (200 net cal difference + 400 calories consumed after workout) and will be 600 less than the 1200 cal goal.

    Hope this kind of makes sense. I used to stick to eating close to 1200 a day and didn't eat my calories back. Looking at the Net Calories Report opened my eyes to really see how little I was consuming (600-900 cal most of the week). It also made me realize how the calories system works on this site. Even though I'm usually not hungry after 4pm because I graze throughout the day, I still have to "force" myself to eat my calories back. I've only recently "understood" how this calorie system works, but it makes sense to me.

    Thanks! I think I'm trying to fully understand it as well!
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    I'm starting to eat them back since I pulled a report that shows my net calories during the past 30 days and it showed I eat less than 1000 calories. The way I figure it, is that my beginning calorie goal is 1200, but on the days of the week I work out I end up burning 600-800 calories per day, which mean I can eat most of them back, but I never used to eat them back until recently. If I didn't eat them back and still tried to stay around 1200, then the math would look like this:
    1200 calories
    -800 calories I've consumed prior to workout
    =400 calories remaining

    600 calories burned during workout
    200 net calorie difference between what I've consumed (800) and what I burned (600)

    If I only eat 400 calories after my workout and for the rest of the day, then I've only consumed a net of 600 calories (200 net cal difference + 400 calories consumed after workout) and will be 600 less than the 1200 cal goal.

    Hope this kind of makes sense. I used to stick to eating close to 1200 a day and didn't eat my calories back. Looking at the Net Calories Report opened my eyes to really see how little I was consuming (600-900 cal most of the week). It also made me realize how the calories system works on this site. Even though I'm usually not hungry after 4pm because I graze throughout the day, I still have to "force" myself to eat my calories back. I've only recently "understood" how this calorie system works, but it makes sense to me.

    You're making it too hard on yourself by trying to keep track of net calories in the middle of the calculation, then using them again later. Whatever your calorie target is (we'll keep it at 1200 for now), just set it aside for the moment.

    Net Calories = Total Calories Consumed minus Total Exercise Calories Logged.
    You just want to have your Net Calories be as close to your original target as possible.

    So in your example, you ate 800 calories before your workout, and 400 calories after your workout, for a total of 1200 calories consumed. You burned 600 calories in your workout. Your Net Calories are then:

    1200 - 600 = 600

    So you still have 600 calories left to eat for the day before you reach your target of 1200.
  • ilovemybuggy
    ilovemybuggy Posts: 1,584 Member
    I'm starting to eat them back since I pulled a report that shows my net calories during the past 30 days and it showed I eat less than 1000 calories. The way I figure it, is that my beginning calorie goal is 1200, but on the days of the week I work out I end up burning 600-800 calories per day, which mean I can eat most of them back, but I never used to eat them back until recently. If I didn't eat them back and still tried to stay around 1200, then the math would look like this:
    1200 calories
    -800 calories I've consumed prior to workout
    =400 calories remaining

    600 calories burned during workout
    200 net calorie difference between what I've consumed (800) and what I burned (600)

    If I only eat 400 calories after my workout and for the rest of the day, then I've only consumed a net of 600 calories (200 net cal difference + 400 calories consumed after workout) and will be 600 less than the 1200 cal goal.

    Hope this kind of makes sense. I used to stick to eating close to 1200 a day and didn't eat my calories back. Looking at the Net Calories Report opened my eyes to really see how little I was consuming (600-900 cal most of the week). It also made me realize how the calories system works on this site. Even though I'm usually not hungry after 4pm because I graze throughout the day, I still have to "force" myself to eat my calories back. I've only recently "understood" how this calorie system works, but it makes sense to me.

    You're making it too hard on yourself by trying to keep track of net calories in the middle of the calculation, then using them again later. Whatever your calorie target is (we'll keep it at 1200 for now), just set it aside for the moment.

    Net Calories = Total Calories Consumed minus Total Exercise Calories Logged.
    You just want to have your Net Calories be as close to your original target as possible.

    So in your example, you ate 800 calories before your workout, and 400 calories after your workout, for a total of 1200 calories consumed. You burned 600 calories in your workout. Your Net Calories are then:

    1200 - 600 = 600

    So you still have 600 calories left to eat for the day before you reach your target of 1200.

    that's pretty much what they said- just worded differently.

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